Climate change education implementation: the voices of policymakers, professional development providers, and teachers in five countries

Climate change (CC) is the most significant global issue facing humanity, yet research addressing the perspectives of the key players influential in developing and implementing school-based CC curricula at a cross-country national level is scarce. This study examined the perceptions of policymakers, teacher professional development providers and CCE teachers in relation to: CC knowledge, representation in the curriculum, content and pedagogy, and support for teaching. The voices of these educators were gathered across five countries (Australia, England, Finland, Indonesia, and Israel) through semi-structured interviews. Analysis revealed much commonality across the countries and across role types. Although participants agreed that CCE is multidisciplinary and expressed widespread support for including CC in the curriculum through a cross-curriculum approach, their conceptualisations of CC knowledge were inconsistent. Participants recognised the importance of a science basis in CCE, and of student action, with some participants also emphasising emotional, ethical and value-based inclusions. Most suggested active learning focused pedagogies. Variations in approaches to CC implementation between countries suggest that CCE is in a transitional phase. In all five countries, the interviewees called for the curriculum to make more explicit connections to CC and for governmental leadership in supporting CCE, professional development and provision of resources.